Tesla grabs top spot in market where almost all new cars are EVs

Tesla accounted for more than a fifth (20%) of new car sales in Norway in August, with electric cars as a whole accounting for 97% of new passenger vehicle registrations.

Tesla models were close to 22% of new car sales in August — driven by the Model Y and Model 3 — with Volkswagen making up about 13%, according to the Norwegian Road Federation.

Chinese manufacturer BYD more than tripled the number of cars it shifted in the country last month, while Toyota and Volvo monthly sales were well below where they were a year earlier.

Norway became the first country to see EV brands overtake showroom-fresh fossil-fuel models in 2020, a surge that was underpinned by incentives ranging from reduced tolls to no or lower value-added taxes.

With such a high penetration of electric cars, producers have flocked to the market with about 170 electric-powered models to choose from.

“It will be interesting to see how this develops in relation to the classic brands that Norwegians have traditionally chosen,” the OFV’s Solberg Thorsen said Monday.